


Be Here Now

by carolion



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-31
Updated: 2011-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-28 13:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolion/pseuds/carolion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cook misses Archie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be Here Now

In the quiet moments, Cook misses Archie.

"I miss you," he says through the phone, laying his head back and propping it up on a pillow, cradling the phone against his ear. It's easy to miss Archie when it's calm, when it's empty, even though he enjoys the peace and quiet he just wishes Archie was here beside him, enjoying it too. Because it's not like he needs Archie to fill up the silence with his words or his laughter, but that he needs him to commiserate with, to understand each other. Archie may ramble, and he may mumble the lyrics to songs without even knowing, but he steady and he's soothing and when everything is so hectic, he's exactly what Cook needs.

Everyone _but_ Archie demands things from him, and in the rare times when no one is vying for his attention, Cook only wants _his_ attention. (He's not sure what the psychology is, but he knows that he needs this, needs to ground himself somehow, needs to remind himself this is real. Sometimes Archie is the most real person he knows - sometimes he's so unreal Cook wonders if his whole life since meeting Archie has been a dream.)

Archie hums in response - he doesn't say "Aw" or "I know" or even "I miss you too", he just hums a little in acknowledgement. Maybe Cook should feel put out or embarrassed, but he gets it. Archie doesn't say things with his words so much as he says it with his eyes, or his heart, or in the little things he does. Cook loves words, loves to shape them into vessels to carry him through the day, loves when they slide into place perfectly to encompass what he really means. But Archie - words are not his strong suit. It's something Cook learned early, had to struggle to accept. (Why wouldn't Archie just _say something_? But he realized, later, Archie said it all eventually, without ever saying a word.)

"I wish you were here," he says, not thinking, just feeling.

"What then?"

Archie has this way of taking Cook by surprise, even though they've been friends for years. It's not accusatory, or mocking - just a question. What then? What then, if Archie was there, and Cook didn't have to miss him, because he'd be _right there_ (where he belonged).

"Then we'd be together."

Another soft hum, this one a little more thoughtful than the last. Cook shuts his mouth for a minute and just listens, because he knows Archie, and he knows something more is coming.

"Would we?"

The bottom drops out of Cook's stomach. It's the age-old argument, the one he could never quite answer, that neither of them could ever really reconcile. The tension that can't be eased between them until something changes, and Cook knows it's still too soon - it might always be too soon.

"Would we?" He repeats back to Archie, softly. It's quiet, and there is a hesitant pause (Cook misses Archie fiercely in that moment, vividly aware of how he's missing the subtle quirks in Archie's expression, the apprehension on his face, the flick of his eyelashes down and up).

"Maybe - maybe we would."

It's enough to make Cook's heart leap to his throat, and make his mouth go dry, and he hopes 'someday' might be 'today'.


End file.
